1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing networks, and more particularly to database systems and network attached storage.
2. Description of Related Art
Database systems use block-level access to a database in data storage. A database application issues block I/O requests to the database. Well-known database applications include the IBM DB2, Oracle 8, and Sybase. The database applications may support on-line transaction processing and batch processing.
Traditionally, the database application ran on a host processor such a mainframe computer, and the database was stored in one or more disk drives directly attached to the host processor. In the last couple of years, however, some database systems have used network attached storage (NAS). For example, Celerra (Trademark) brand network attached storage is sold by EMC Corporation, 176 South Street, Hopkinton, Mass. 01748. There can be considerable savings in storage cost and data management cost because multiple host processors can share the network attached storage.